Steve K

The loss of points won't be down to that one game, of course. For instance, the previous week, Everton's John Stones could easily have had a penalty given against him. If that had happened, and it had been converted, it might well have been a win for Man City. I'm not suggesting that things are guaranteed to even themselves out over a season - life's not that neat - but you can't put a season down to one decision. People are still banging on about how Gerrard's slip "gifted" Chelsea the title, but there were any number of games where Liverpool or Chelsea had been equally unlucky, or indeed lucky. It was just the timing of that match, near the end of the season, which has given it a supposed significance that it doesn't deserve. I think you're right. I'm a Chelsea fan, but will freely admit (how could I do otherwise?) that Terry's goal was offside, but the timing of it is a red herring. You can't have injury time fixed at a given number of minutes, without the scope to add more on if further delays occur. ou know what would solve that problem? A countdown clock with a giant display, which starts at 90 minutes, but stop every time the referee deems play to have stopped. When it reaches 45 minutes, it's half time, and when it gets to zero, the game is over. No "seeing how the play develops", no ifs or buts or guesswork. The review system in test cricket works quite well. Different game entirely, or course, but each captain has a certain number of reviews per innings, where the decision (or lack of it) can be looked at again. If the challenge is incorrect, a "life" is lost, so the captain can't go on stopping the game every 5 minutes, because he has to be pretty sure in his own mind that a decision is worth reviewing.

It's fairly pathetic, isn't it. The headline has him angry at the "snub" - he wasn't snubbed, he came second in a competition to name the very best footballer in an entire continent. More than that, he came first in the same vote for each of the four previous years. His lack of acceptance is in the same league as Zlatan's, when he reacted to a Swedish newspaper's list of the 150 greatest Swedes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30589052 He didn't appreciate coming second to Bjorn Borg:

Whilst I agree with what you say, I do think that if there were the possibility of retrospective punishment - and harsh punishment at that - for the cheating behaviour of players, then the referees' jobs would become a lot clearer. They could make decisions based on what they'd seen, confident that they could believe their eyes, and that they'd not been conned. And I'd like to see an end to this "there was definite contact, so he had every right to go down" attitude, which extends from the players and managers right through to the "experts" on MOTD.

I disagree - he's still a free man, he's still got his millions, and he still thinks he's done nothing wrong.

What did he say to upset you?

Leaving the tangent, and skidding off into the bushes, whatever happened to Hanovale's model of the XPT? Their website suggested that the model (and everything else, for that matter) was on hold "for the time being" years ago, saying since 2009: ... which is a shame, as I quite fancied one to turn into an HO HST-a-like.

If anyone mentions the inventor of the hokey-cokey, they will NOT be getting a like from me...

Indeed - who can forget Basic Instinct 2? What do you mean, you all can? I think he lives closer than Sean Connery... A bit harsh - I don't exactly think he's a Communist! Without going anywhere near politics, I think he was making a point that the only party whose stance he agreed with was the SNP, so he offered them his support. I have to say, I quite like Stan (and not just because he's from this neck of the woods). Get past the accent, and he comes across as quite intelligent. Opinionated, yes, but he needs that as a broadcaster.

Fopar - is that a cross between FUBAR and faux pas? Either way, a bit harsh for a tiny slip in this extraordinary build!

Pretty sure that the anthem of all parts of the UK is supposed to be "God save the Queen", but the Welsh and Scots decided they wanted different songs, despite being part of the same Kingdom, so they get their own tunes played. It doesn't mean England also have to be so petty, but it is a bit weird if there's a home nation clash, and one side plays "God Save the Queen", and the other, "Flower of Scotland", so I suppose there is room for an English anthem under some circumstances. Having said that, I'll gladly bet that most Englishmen couldn't get beyond the first 5 words of "Land of Hope and Glory" or 12 words of "Jerusalem", but they could have a decent go at the first verse of "God Save the Queen"!

Modest? Sociable? Best joke I've read in ages!

Well, it does says "TIGERS NEWS" in fairly clear letters immediately below, and the first paragraph begins "Leicester Tigers...", so you can hardly accuse them of misleading the public. And also, there is an art to producing amusing and/or eye-catching headlines - the press have been doing it for decades.

I know that all managers are rather one-eyed when it comes to feeling hard done by, but Mourinho needs to try to reign that in a bit, at least until his team win, and win well. Yes, the Van Dijk shirt-pulling from Ivanovic was an obvious penalty, but Mane ruined any chance he had of a sympathetic decision from the ref with his ridiculous OTT swan-dive. Who, in real life (ie not on a football pitch), would react to having their toe trodden on by leaping acrobatically 4 feet in the air? Ludicrous, and in my view, Mane was lucky not to get booked, which is ironic, because if he hadn't dived, he might well have got the penalty. I always lay my cards on the table here and remind people I support Chelsea (not just so that those who like to abuse fans of other teams can do so, but knock yourselves out if you wish), but if it requires a Chelsea player to get sent off for diving to stop all players of all clubs doing it, then I would be happy. Send off Falcao (although his dive wasn't as bad as Mane's), dismiss Costa the minute he steps back on the pitch, but to all "professional" footballers, please just stop acting like silly children and start being more like well-paid men. Grow a pair, the lot of you!

That's a fair point, really, although I realise that managers do get compensated handsomely when they are kicked out. I agree that they should be given until at least the beginning of December (other arbitrarily chosen dates are available!). Failing that, under-performing players should also be able to be sacked.

Wow - 4 "funny"s and it literally doesn't mean anything. No wonder they say you should never try to analyse humour, I'd be all week trying to dissect that one.

To paraphrase the David Moyes joke from a couple of years back, I have no doubt that Ranieri's team will be in Europe next year, even if he has to write the b1oody song himself.. It's quite weird being a Chelsea fan at the moment, too. Yours isn't the only club whose "goals against" stats are being made to look better only by Sunderland...

As for the goal-scoring tally, it's disappointing to see the record equalled, and then bettered, with penalties, which seem to be given out quite freely these days. And I'm with you most of the way on Charlton vs Rooney, RD - while I am trying hard to be fair, and not indulge in Rooney-bashing (and I would still contend that it's a futile task to compare eras, as playing equipment and conditions were so vastly different even 30 years ago), I will have to concede that when you do compare the two, Rooney lacks a certain indefinable class, if nothing else.

Very nice. Even though I find clerestory coaches hideously ugly, that's a really nice-looking model!

The yellow electric loco also looks a bit like Kestrel!

That looks really nice - I guess I would have to admit to being another AFOL (I've never "come out" as such, but I think my family would guess!), and there's something most appealing about the possibilities of the current Lego train offerings. Don't cover up all of the studs, though - I always think that models covered in plates and looking too realistic somehow miss the point of Lego!

But then, Robin, I don't think you can really compare eras. That possibly contradicts my earlier post, but to compare Greaves with Rooney or, say, Peter Crouch (whose goal-per-minute average must be half decent), is meaningless, given the 40 years between them. Actually, it's not really a contradiction, because I think my original point was that when Rooney gets his 50th goal, it won't make him a better player than Bobby Charlton. I'm not saying he's worse, mind you, just that it's nigh-on impossible to compare the two.

I see that Wayne Rooney has now scored as many goals as any other man for England, which surely makes him one of the all-time greats, up there with Bobby Charlton and Owen Goal. Still, I've been looking at the stats, and I can't find out how many of Sir Bobby's goals were soft penalties against San Marino... I know it's an old argument, but it really is time that San Marino, Gibraltar (sorry, new boys, but you are cr@p), Liechtenstein, Andorra and a few of the others had a mini group of their own, with just one of them going to the main group stages. With the possible exception of the Faroes, none of these teams present any meaningful opposition, or even try to do anything other than defend and foul. Saturday's game wasn't any sort of match, was it? Not really. Some of the pundits are saying "you mustn't deprive these teams of the chance to play at the highest level", but I say "why not?" If they're good enough in the play-off group, they'll play with the proper teams. The opportunity is still there, but they have to earn the chance. I'd like to play tennis at Wimbledon, but I don't expect to get thrown into the main draw just because the LTA acknowledge my existence...

Oddly, he didn't seem to blame anyone in particular, but then, I think that he and Pardew get on OK, so Mourinho did his "grudging respect" act! Oh, and let's not pretend that Jose is by any means the most miserable, complaining manager, let alone the only one...

Following Final Score today, I thought it was a nice touch that Jose Mourinho commemorated his 100th PL home game by giving the rest of the league a head start. Either that, or it was a shrewd tactical move to persuade the boss to buy Messi, Ronaldo, Pogba and a few others in the next couple of days. Seriously, I have a feeling that certain clubs will be spending big before Tuesday. Whatever it was, I'm not worried - it can't simply have been that Chelsea were outplayed, after all (!), and anyway, I keep telling myself that I'll take no notice of the table until 10 games have gone!

Forgive me for being dim, but I'm scratching my head to think of a car logo with 3 blue triangles - the closest I can get in my head is the MOT logo! Unless you're referring to the stylised blue-and-white propellor badge of another well-known German car, but that only has 2 blue bits... I need to know, because any warning sign of numpties on the road is welcome information!